Everybody eats, which is what makes food a perfect choice to resolve conflicts and foster connections among nations. The concept is called "gastrodiplomacy," and South Korea is one of its strongest champions. [...] And even as the government supports its citizens in opening Korean restaurants around the world, it pays special attention to promoting that most ubiquitous of Korean foods: kimchi.

Summer solstice fire festivals in the Pyrenees. Korean tightrope-walking. Solving math equations on a traditional Chinese abacus… and the Mediterranean diet? The olive-oil-abundant way of eating may seem like an outlier here, but all these things share one common attribute: They’re recognized by UNESCO as cultural treasures worth preserving for future generations.

Baum + Whiteman food consultancy recently chose Kimchi, Korea’s traditional fermented vegetable dish, as one of the top food trends for 2016. According to Google, Bibimbap was one of 2015’s top five ‘rising’ foods by search query volume. And T.G.I. Friday’s—the north star of mainstream Americana—has even experimented with adding Korean tacos to its menus.

Korea has launched an aggressive campaign to bolster food exports to China, targeting the growing number of increasingly wealthy Chinese consumers, many of whom view Korean products as safer and more sanitary.

According to recent documents released by UNESCO, North Korea has submitted kimchi to be nominated as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, meaning that it would be officially recognized as important to world heritage and merit cultural protection from UNESCO. The submission for Intangible Cultural Heritage status, titled “Tradition of kimchi-making in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” is looking like a shoe-in for UNESCO status.